Jerry Marchand began playing the Celtic harp in 1990 after hearing the work of Kim Robertson; he first heard her beautiful melodies when he was mining Herkimer Diamond Crystals in Fonda, New York. Later he studied with Joyce Rice, Kasha Breau and Felicia Swados.


Jerry is an avid field collector of gems, minerals, crystals, and fossils. He makes hand-made jewelry and operates his own business selling these one-of-a-kind items, along with his musical performances and recordings.


Jerry is a frequent performer at area events, where fans come to see him year after year. He attracts a loyal following who love his music and his exhibits of unique gems and minerals that he has mined himself.

Teaching and Community Service
Jerry has done volunteer work with the harp at nursing homes, various hospitals including the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children, gone into area elementary schools and taught the children the history of the harp, played for them and had them take their own hand and try to play the harp.

He also supports local animal shelters by playing for them and raising money at various shows and functions. He volunteers at the Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Shelter in Springfield, MA, where he does cat care and helps in any other way he can. Jerry Marchand's community service is an expression of his love for music combined with his compassion for people and animals in need. For more details, please click here

Background
Jerry worked in the field of computers and electronics for 30 years and currently works at the prestigious Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA in the Earth and Environment Department. He works with the mineral collection there and a Scanning Electron Microscope. In a sense, this work dovetails with his experiences mining and selling minerals; he has a multi-faceted perspective. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.